Preparing To Do a Du

I'm going to be doing my first Duathlon on Sunday - the Ironhead Texas Motor Speedway Sprint Duathlon - a 2-mile run, 15-mile bike, and another 2-mile run. So I'm using this week to do some final prep work.

Monday: A 3,000 yard swim workout. Okay, so swimming is not part of a duathlon, but my knee still needs a little more recovery from Saturday's run/bike. I completed the swim in 1:03:49 with splits of:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:20 (10:08)
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:16 (10:32)
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:36 (10:49)
• 4th 500 yds: 10:34.5 (10:52)
• Accel Gel & water break: 0:32 (0:39)
• 5th 500 yds: 10:48 (10:54)
• 6th 500 yds: 10:44 (10:50)

54 seconds faster than two weeks ago (January 28 - those split times in the parentheses). Getting faster!

Tuesday: Another reverse tri at LA Fitness. Don joined me for a 3-mile treadmill run, followed by Leslie's 45-minute spin class, and then 1,000 yards in the pool. It was a tough workout, but I think I did a pretty good job. I was able to finish 3 miles on the treadmill in just over 23 minutes (7:45/mi pace) - which is a fast pace for me, especially since I did the first mile at an 8:30 pace to warm up. During the bike/spin, my heart rate stayed at the upper aerobic range (occasionally crossing into anaerobic) as Leslie has started a pattern of tough classes on Tuesday and easier ones on Thursday. My swim went quite well: 1,000 yds in 19:15 with 500 yd splits of 9:36 and 9:39. This is faster than the tri swims last week and my time for the first 300 yds was 5:40.

Wednesday: Decided to take a day off. Ahh ... so relaxing!

Thursday: Time to work on the bike-to-run transition. The reverse tri features a run-to-bike - which is good practice for the duathlon coming up this weekend. After spin class, Don, Wilhe, and I ran on the treadmills. I tried to push my pace - no need for a warm-up since we just biked for 45 minutes - and completed the first two miles in 14:50. Jogged/walked for another 12 minutes to complete three miles.

Friday: Some more swimming. Giving my legs a rest. Not as far, nor as fast, as Monday, but I'll put it down to Friday blahs.

• 1st 500 yds: 9:57
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:17
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:48
• 4th 500 yds: 10:57
• Accel Gel & water break: ??? (hit "stop" instead of "lap" - argh)
• 5th 500 yds: 10:36

Saturday will be a rest/off day. Actually, I will probably be doing a ton of errands before heading over to Bicycles, Inc. for packet pickup and bike/helmet safety inspection - so describing tomorrow as an "off day" is probably stretching it.

So all in all, a good week.